The present invention relates to an improved air bearing straight line tracking phonograph tonearm.
Conventional tonearms are of the pivotable type. However, the stylus of such tonearms traverses the record or platter groove in a slightly arcuate path from the beginning to the end of the record. This causes sound distortion and groove wear.
Audiophiles, therefore, prefer straight line tracking tonearms whereby the stylus crosses the record groove from the beginning to the end of the record in a straight line, i.e., along the radius of the record. Such tonearms result in less sound distortion or improved sound reproduction and decrease groove wear.
Air bearing straight line tracking tonearms having a mounted spindle tube borne by an air bearing and having a tonearm tube with a cartridge and stylus at one end of the spindle tube and a counterweight assembly at the other end of the spindle tube are commercially available. However, such tonearms still generally have a number of disadvantages. It is difficult to adjust the vertical tracking angle (VTA) or stylus rake angle (SRA) with ease and precision; it is difficult to interchange one cartridge and its counterweights with another cartridge and its preset counterweights; vertical adjustment and/or leveling of the spindle tube and/or tonearm tube are not simple or precise; resonance and tonal qualities are somewhat deficient; high mass in the horizontal plane results from such a configuration; and cuing and protection of the stylus are inadequate.